Why Do We Need a Search Functionality in our Website

Literally, every WebSite, from big eCommerce sites like Amazon.com, down to small blogs or personal sites has an immense need of search functionality. Once your site’s content stars to grow, your visitors will want to be able to search the site for information. Such search utility will make your website more interactive, from a customer’s point of view and will encourage them to stay longer. While there are several main approaches in implementing search functionality, such as Search In a XML, SiteMap or using a Custom Provider, in the following lines, we are going to cover the basics of the ‘Search in the underlying DataBase’ and the advantages, which the Telerik ASP.NET SearchBox migth provide you with.

The Search Scenario

In this blog post we will be creating a simple search functionality for our site. As for an architecture pattern, we are going to use the online Telerik ASP.Net demos site. Once the user searches for information, we are going to query our DataBase using Entity Framework and display the results as links in the ClientTemplate of RadSearchBox. The control will be populated with data via WebService, where the returned data will be structured.

The DataBase

For the sake of the example, we are going to create a simple Table (ControlsTable) adding few columns: ControlID, ControlName, ControlContents and SectionName.

Querying the DataBase Using Entity Framework

Entity Framework is an Object/Relational Mapping (O/RM) framework, which provides an automated mechanism for accessing and storing the data in the database. It provides the ability for the developers to retrieve and manipulate data as strongly typed objects using C# or VB.Net.

DataEntities db = new DataEntities();

var q = db.ControlsTables.Where(i =>

i.ControlName.Contains(context.Text.Trim()) ||

i.ControlContents.Contains(context.Text.Trim()) ||

i.SectionName.Contains(context.Text.Trim())

).ToList();

Each time the user types a character in the input of the control a callback is triggered to the WebService and the underlying database is requested with the above query. The retrieved entries from the database would be the ones, which contain the value that was entered in the input.

Displaying the Results

Regarding the aforementioned structure of our website (similar to the Telerik ASP.Net demos site), we would need to provide the user with the ability to navigate to a specific page where the search criteria is met. This could be easily achieved, using the ClientTemplateof the ASP.NET SearchBox control and displaying the results as a hyperlinks. In order to provide RadSearchBox with the needed, we have to manage the returned datasource in the WebService in the following manner:

[WebMethod]

publicSearchBoxData GetSearchResults(SearchBoxContext context)

{

List<SearchBoxItemData> resultSet = newList<SearchBoxItemData>();

DataEntities db = newDataEntities();

var q = db.RadControlsTables.Where(i =>

i.ControlName.Contains(context.Text.Trim()) ||

i.ControlContents.Contains(context.Text.Trim()) ||

i.SectionName.Contains(context.Text.Trim())

).ToList();

foreach(var item inq)

{

stringcontrolName = item.ControlName.ToString();

stringsectionName = item.SectionName.ToString();

stringurl = string.Format("{0}/{1}/{2}/default.aspx",

HttpContext.Current.Request.ApplicationPath,

controlName,

sectionName);

SearchBoxItemData searchItemitem = newSearchBoxItemData();

searchItemitem.Text = controlName;

searchItemitem.Value = url;

searchItemitem.DataItem["Text"] = sectionName;

resultSet.Add(searchItemitem);

}

SearchBoxData res = newSearchBoxData();

res.Items = resultSet.ToArray();

returnres;

}

Then you could easily configure the ClientTemplate of ASP.NET SearchBox control, in order to evaluate the structured data:

<ClientTemplate>

<a href="#= Value #">

<span>#= DataItem.Text #</span>

<span>#= Text #</span>

</a>

</ClientTemplate>

User Experience

At the end, what we’ve achieved is a quite flexible (agile) search functionality, using a WebService and Entity Framework, which serves out the result in a user-friendly manner.

What We’ve Learned So Far

What we’ve covered with this article is a simple way to implement a search functionality in your website. No matter how much more advanced your real world search scenario is, we believe the RadSearchBox will save you at least half of your development efforts and time. Check out the demos to see what other functionality the control has built-inand don’t hesitate to share what you think below.

Nencho Nenchev

Nencho Nenchev is a Support Officer in the ASP.NET AJAX division. Ever since he joined Telerik in 2012, his main focus has been improving the services and customer care the company offers. Apart from work, Nencho enjoys playing different sports and having fun with his friends.

Progress, Telerik, and certain product names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. See Trademarks or appropriate markings.